ALCHEMICAL HYPNOTHERAPY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS
By Ora Spiegel
When I first moved to Colorado I attended a local gathering of sexual abuse victims, perpetrators, families, and therapists. I attended as a therapist trained in Alchemical Hypnotherapy. I was struck by how stuck the victims were. They would share their story, and many said things like "I'm a victim and I always will be. There's nothing that can ever change that. This happened years ago and I'm going to always feel this way." I would think, "Yes, these horrible things happened to you and you can't change that, but I KNOW that you can quit feeling like the victim!" I felt frustrated that the therapy they were receiving didn't go all the way!
There were numerous victims at the meeting who were wishing they could just tell their perpetrator some things. I know that through Alchemical Hypnotherapy protocols, I could help them go into their inner world and speak to the perpetrator (and whatever else they wanted to do to the perpetrator), letting go of the emotional charge.
The other thing that struck me at this meeting was that the perpetrators were generally victims themselves, back in their past, and that they had much anger and rage. At the lunch break I asked one of the therapists what kind of anger work they do with these people. I was told that they can't do anger work because these people will turn violent. The therapists put them in time out to cool down.
At the end of the day one of the women victims asked if there was any therapist in the room that was willing to do anger work with her. I was the only one who raised my hand. When she came for sessions she was amazed that I was OK with her yelling. We did emotional release work, and then she would lay down and enter her inner world. She resolved many deep emotional issues.
I wish that more therapists had the tools available in Alchemical hypnotherapy. I feel frustrated that these tools are not among the techniques that are taught in most therapist training courses. I have felt basically like I can't touch the "system." The therapists are taught the techniques they use and they are the acceptable ones, regardless of how inadequate they are for helping clients truly recover.
One day I was in a personal growth group based on Pathwork. We each help process whoever wants to work on something. Lynn (not her real name) was expressing her feelings about some local woman who was raped, which ultimately took her back to her own sexual abuse. I was laying back letting the other group members, some of whom are licensed therapists, lead her through her process until I heard a loud call from my guidance telling me that I had to act on this one. There was a silent lull in the voice of directing the session and I jumped right in.
Lynn had spent quite a bit of time explaining to the group the story of Durga, an aspect of the Goddess who rides on the back of a lion and wields a sword. (In the stories of old, Durga actually saved the world.) She kept saying she wanted to have the strength and commitment of Durga. Lynn was involved with the women's crisis intervention and resource center and was very protective of anyone who had experienced any domestic violence or sexual abuse. She had rage and anger towards all perpetrators which she now expressed by shredding rags into tiny pieces.
Then Lynn was having some feelings about her mother. I encouraged her to imagine her mother before her and tell her how she felt. After she had a dialogue with her mother and cleared out a lot of emotion I asked her what she needed from her mother that she wasn't getting. She needed to be told how special she is and how precious she is, and held and loved. Her mother couldn't do that. Lee had opened the meeting with a goddess ritual, so I asked her to imagine the goddess coming and holding her. Lynn later told me that the night before her first session with me when I suggested that she sit in the lap of the Goddess she was totally unable. Lynn said she felt such deep shame that she felt she couldn't - she didn't deserve to sit with the Goddess - she didn't deserve to be loved by her. It wasn't until the end of that first session where she fully opened up to this love. This is the very foundation of her problems - not feeling worthy enough to be loved by God or her parents or anyone. And since her session with me, all that shifted! She cried and cried, feeling the love and support she needed.
When the meeting was over I invited Lynn to do a private session with me. She called the next morning and came right over. In this session she went back to her sexual abuse. She was feeling powerless, victimized. She could have no effect on the perpetrator. I asked her to imagine Durga coming to rescue her. She described Durga, flying in through the window of her childhood home on the back of the lion, wielding her sword. I invited her to now become Durga, a standard Alchemical technique. She did. She experienced being inside a powerful body. Drawing her sword she slayed the perpetrator. I anchored the experience and feelings of having so much powerful effect.
Durga gave Lynn the guidance to speak her truth, no matter if anyone hears it or not. Durga gave her the gift of the sword. Durga is there to protect her and give her power.
Lynn came to the next Pathwork meeting full of excitement about her session with me. She said that the next day she was talking on the phone with someone who in the past she would have not spoken her truth to, and spontaneously she opened her mouth and said her truth. She felt that she was having effect in her life. She also said that she was in a store that had a small sword, identical to the sword in her vision, and she bought it.
Lynn told me to call the women's resource center and demonstrate the amazing effect of this process. She is encouraging me to let people know that this work is available. I feel hopeful that perhaps more people with unresolved issues can experience resolution. Maybe more people in the system will see the value in this work, and maybe the cycle of victim to perpetrator can be broken.
Lynn writes: I've been working on this issue for the last 20 years. My work with Ora Spiegel was by far the most dramatic of all my therapy experiences. It moved something very deep inside that I'd not been able to move in all the therapy sessions I'd had. Experiencing and speaking from the pain and then actually rescuing my former self from the pain...what an amazing shift in my own perspective! It was very physical...I could actually feel the shift within. And my life hasn't been the same since. I am reminded constantly of the strength and clarity of the Goddess and I now know that this is within me..always! After living in fear for most of my life, after believing that I wasn't worthy of the love of the Goddess, finally, finally I can see my way out. I finally feel that I am worthy of the love of the universe and that I can overcome the fear and anger. My healing is not complete, but for the first time I think I can safely say, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train.
I've had many clients come for sessions who were sexual abuse victims who have done the support groups and the traditional therapies, and they tell me that with Alchemical Hypnotherapy sessions they are finally experiencing completion and resolution to their pain and inner turmoil.
Ora Speigal has a practice specializing in sexual abuse issues and Somatic Healing in Colorado.
Learn more about her work at www.dbtmusic.com.
When I first moved to Colorado I attended a local gathering of sexual abuse victims, perpetrators, families, and therapists. I attended as a therapist trained in Alchemical Hypnotherapy. I was struck by how stuck the victims were. They would share their story, and many said things like "I'm a victim and I always will be. There's nothing that can ever change that. This happened years ago and I'm going to always feel this way." I would think, "Yes, these horrible things happened to you and you can't change that, but I KNOW that you can quit feeling like the victim!" I felt frustrated that the therapy they were receiving didn't go all the way!
There were numerous victims at the meeting who were wishing they could just tell their perpetrator some things. I know that through Alchemical Hypnotherapy protocols, I could help them go into their inner world and speak to the perpetrator (and whatever else they wanted to do to the perpetrator), letting go of the emotional charge.
The other thing that struck me at this meeting was that the perpetrators were generally victims themselves, back in their past, and that they had much anger and rage. At the lunch break I asked one of the therapists what kind of anger work they do with these people. I was told that they can't do anger work because these people will turn violent. The therapists put them in time out to cool down.
At the end of the day one of the women victims asked if there was any therapist in the room that was willing to do anger work with her. I was the only one who raised my hand. When she came for sessions she was amazed that I was OK with her yelling. We did emotional release work, and then she would lay down and enter her inner world. She resolved many deep emotional issues.
I wish that more therapists had the tools available in Alchemical hypnotherapy. I feel frustrated that these tools are not among the techniques that are taught in most therapist training courses. I have felt basically like I can't touch the "system." The therapists are taught the techniques they use and they are the acceptable ones, regardless of how inadequate they are for helping clients truly recover.
One day I was in a personal growth group based on Pathwork. We each help process whoever wants to work on something. Lynn (not her real name) was expressing her feelings about some local woman who was raped, which ultimately took her back to her own sexual abuse. I was laying back letting the other group members, some of whom are licensed therapists, lead her through her process until I heard a loud call from my guidance telling me that I had to act on this one. There was a silent lull in the voice of directing the session and I jumped right in.
Lynn had spent quite a bit of time explaining to the group the story of Durga, an aspect of the Goddess who rides on the back of a lion and wields a sword. (In the stories of old, Durga actually saved the world.) She kept saying she wanted to have the strength and commitment of Durga. Lynn was involved with the women's crisis intervention and resource center and was very protective of anyone who had experienced any domestic violence or sexual abuse. She had rage and anger towards all perpetrators which she now expressed by shredding rags into tiny pieces.
Then Lynn was having some feelings about her mother. I encouraged her to imagine her mother before her and tell her how she felt. After she had a dialogue with her mother and cleared out a lot of emotion I asked her what she needed from her mother that she wasn't getting. She needed to be told how special she is and how precious she is, and held and loved. Her mother couldn't do that. Lee had opened the meeting with a goddess ritual, so I asked her to imagine the goddess coming and holding her. Lynn later told me that the night before her first session with me when I suggested that she sit in the lap of the Goddess she was totally unable. Lynn said she felt such deep shame that she felt she couldn't - she didn't deserve to sit with the Goddess - she didn't deserve to be loved by her. It wasn't until the end of that first session where she fully opened up to this love. This is the very foundation of her problems - not feeling worthy enough to be loved by God or her parents or anyone. And since her session with me, all that shifted! She cried and cried, feeling the love and support she needed.
When the meeting was over I invited Lynn to do a private session with me. She called the next morning and came right over. In this session she went back to her sexual abuse. She was feeling powerless, victimized. She could have no effect on the perpetrator. I asked her to imagine Durga coming to rescue her. She described Durga, flying in through the window of her childhood home on the back of the lion, wielding her sword. I invited her to now become Durga, a standard Alchemical technique. She did. She experienced being inside a powerful body. Drawing her sword she slayed the perpetrator. I anchored the experience and feelings of having so much powerful effect.
Durga gave Lynn the guidance to speak her truth, no matter if anyone hears it or not. Durga gave her the gift of the sword. Durga is there to protect her and give her power.
Lynn came to the next Pathwork meeting full of excitement about her session with me. She said that the next day she was talking on the phone with someone who in the past she would have not spoken her truth to, and spontaneously she opened her mouth and said her truth. She felt that she was having effect in her life. She also said that she was in a store that had a small sword, identical to the sword in her vision, and she bought it.
Lynn told me to call the women's resource center and demonstrate the amazing effect of this process. She is encouraging me to let people know that this work is available. I feel hopeful that perhaps more people with unresolved issues can experience resolution. Maybe more people in the system will see the value in this work, and maybe the cycle of victim to perpetrator can be broken.
Lynn writes: I've been working on this issue for the last 20 years. My work with Ora Spiegel was by far the most dramatic of all my therapy experiences. It moved something very deep inside that I'd not been able to move in all the therapy sessions I'd had. Experiencing and speaking from the pain and then actually rescuing my former self from the pain...what an amazing shift in my own perspective! It was very physical...I could actually feel the shift within. And my life hasn't been the same since. I am reminded constantly of the strength and clarity of the Goddess and I now know that this is within me..always! After living in fear for most of my life, after believing that I wasn't worthy of the love of the Goddess, finally, finally I can see my way out. I finally feel that I am worthy of the love of the universe and that I can overcome the fear and anger. My healing is not complete, but for the first time I think I can safely say, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train.
I've had many clients come for sessions who were sexual abuse victims who have done the support groups and the traditional therapies, and they tell me that with Alchemical Hypnotherapy sessions they are finally experiencing completion and resolution to their pain and inner turmoil.
Ora Speigal has a practice specializing in sexual abuse issues and Somatic Healing in Colorado.
Learn more about her work at www.dbtmusic.com.
